Seating devices designed expressly for infants and relatively small children have been known for many years. One type of such seating devices are termed "high chairs", which are so named because they are sufficiently elevated from the floor such that an infant positioned in a high chair has his or her head at a level comparable to that of an adult seated in a conventional chair, despite the child's very much shorter body trunk length. High chairs are normally characterized by four relatively long upright legs which are joined and crossbraced in various manners to provide an elevated seat as compared with a conventional chair. Characteristically, high chairs have a back and frequently side rails and a front rail to prevent an infant from jumping or accidently toppling from the high chair at its somewhat elevated height which could pose a threat to a child's safety.
A similar type of seating device often employed for children slightly older than those using high chairs are booster seats. Booster seats are a device which is adapted to be positioned in a conventional chair for adults and having short upward supports which position the seating surface of the booster seat elevated a distance above the seating surface of the chair. In a manner similar to high chairs, booster seats frequently have a back, side rails and perhaps a front rail or other type of restraining device to assist in maintaining the child in the booster seat. In some instances in both booster seats and high chairs, various types of auxiliary straps may be employed to assure that the infant or small child cannot intentionally or accidentally slide or topple from the chair with the attendant possibility of bodily injury.
Some types of high chairs and booster seats as aforedescribed are used merely as an infant seating device. More commonly, however, these devices are designed to be used primarily, or at least secondarily, as a seating device when children are fed. In the aforedescribed high chair and booster seat configuration, the high chair or the chair on which a booster seat is placed are merely moved into close proximity to a table or other eating surface. Perhaps more commonly, particularly in regard to high chairs, a tray is provided to be supported by the side rails and in some instances, a front rail of the high chair to place the tray in close proximity to the child. In such instances, the tray may serve as a front retaining member to preclude the child from sliding or falling forward out of the chair. Over the years, a great number of tray attachments have been designed for both high chairs and booster seats. In some instances, the tray attachments are permanently affixed to the high chair, while in other instances, they have been removable. In order to permit the tray attachment to be displaced from the eating position to facilitate the ingress and egress of a child into and out of a high chair, some trays have been pivoted on a pair of extending arms hinged at the rear of the chair and capable of being moved from an eating position to a storage position by movement through a large arc from a horizontal position to a substantially vertical position down the rear of the high chair. Tray attachments of this nature have the disadvantage that they normally are not detachable for washing or cleaning. In some instances, metallic or plastic inserts have been provided for these trays; however, the problem then arises as to how to maintain the insert in place so it cannot be displaced by the child while allowing removal for cleaning. Further, solving these problems, together with the arms for pivoting the tray attachment have resulted in a complex, cumbersome and relatively expensive configuration.
One type of high chair tray attachment has employed a ring encircling one rail at one lateral extremity of the tray for sliding movement longitudinally of the one rail and pivoting from a horizontal position spanning the rails to a vertical position alongside the one rail. The other lateral extremity of the tray may or may not have a track or other attachment affixed to the other rail to which a tray attachment interfits for effecting locking of the tray at various locations longitudinally of the rails. A primary disadvantage of this type of tray attachment is that the tray cannot be separated from the high chair for cleaning without dismantling the ring assembly.
In other instances, high chair tray attachments have been designed to operate with a high chair having specially configured rails or a track or other attachment affixed to both rails to which a tray attachment interfits. These configurations tend to become relatively complex in order to provide for adjustment of the tray attachment longitudinally of the arms of the high chair and even more complex in endeavoring to provide for selective detachment and attachment of the tray on the arms. In instances where there is an excess amount of operating mechanism, the possibility of pinching or other injury to the occupant of the high chair or a person endeavoring to operate the tray attachment may arise. In addition, many of these units operate in a manner such that the tray attachment may undesirably be adjusted or removed by a child in the high chair. A wide variety of high chair tray attachments have been developed without success in trying to solve the various problems attendant these devices and overcoming all the disadvantages thereof.